Events at Saint Vincent College

It's hard to believe how fast this summer has gone! With thousands of conference and camp attendees having passed through our office, these summer months went by in the blink of an eye. Despite how busy we may get though, we are always able to find time for fun and to make each other laugh. Here is a peek back at what our summer looked like:

Commencement 2014 marked the beginning of summer for Events and Conference Services.

The Fred Roger's Legacy Award, presented to YoYo Ma.

Handyman Kandu and Handyman Frank fixing one of many flat golf cart tires this summer.

Summer fun at Events and Conference Services!

Pittsburgh fans, your dreams have come true.

As the summer rapidly comes to an end, there is still good news. You have plenty of time left to visit Steeler's Training Camp and soak up some of those last few rays of summer sunshine.Go to http://www.stvincent.edu/trainingcamp/ for the 2014 Steelers Training Camp schedule and a map fo the Saint Vincent College campus to help you plan your visit. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!

Hello everyone and happy summer! My name is Emily Funyak and I will be a senior Communication major this fall at Saint Vincent. This summer, I am interning with the Conference Center at Saint Vincent College and I will be focusing on our marketing and social media. I will also be working with the Conference Center staff to help execute all of the camps and events that will be on campus this summer.

We have been busier than ever here at the Conference Center this summer. To start, Saint Vincent had the honor of hosting the Fred Roger’s Legacy Award presented to Yo-Yo Ma. And for the past two weeks, we hosted one of our biggest events of the summer, the Anglican Church in North America’s 2014 Assembly. While they were here, they elected a new Archbishop and held a variety of workshops for some 900 attendees!

Now, let me introduce you to the rest of our summer staff that makes it all happen!

Shelby Klick Year: Junior Major, Minor: Marketing, Communication How long have you worked here: A little over a year Favorite thing about working here: Interoffice bonding Dream Job: Marketing executive for a Disney Media Network. Fun fact: I have never broken a bone.

Ashley Geese Year: Junior Major, Minor: Marketing, Communication How long have you worked here: 2 months Favorite thing about working here: Quoting Mean Girls with Shelby and Kathleen. Dream Job: Head of Marketing for Taco BellFun fact: I watched 9 seasons of Greys Anatomy in less than 3 months on Netflix.

William Cusick Year: Junior Major, Minor: History, Education How long have you worked here: 5 months Favorite thing about working here: Interoffice bonding Dream Job: To be an office girl like Frank. Fun fact: I love my teddy bear named Pucci. He is my life.

Manny Nnabuife Year: Senior Major, Minor: Business Management, Psychology How long have you worked here: 2 months Favorite thing about working here: Driving the golf carts and vans. Dream Job: To be a National soccer player. Fun fact: If I could, I’d make everything green!

Brian Niemiec Year: Sophomore Major, Minor: Communication, Marketing How long have you worked here: 1 year Favorite thing about working here: Talking in a British accent. Dream Job: Voice-over artist Fun fact: I coached a youth deck hockey team.

Frank Dieguez Year: Junior Major, Minor: Accounting How long have you worked here: 2 months Favorite thing about working here: The flexible schedule. Dream Job: To be a CEO or hold an accounting position at a big firm. Fun fact: I’m Hispanic.

Ukandu Soverall Year: 2nd year grad student Major, Minor: Education Counselors How long have you worked here: Forever; since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Favorite thing about working here: The people :) Dream Job: Something fun.Fun fact: I was born in England.

We are also excited to welcome our new Assistant Director Amber Keefer. Amber previously worked in the Admissions Office for 9 years. And her favorite thing about working at the Conference Center is that there is never a dull moment.

First official day of summer and family fun night at Kennywood!

This certainly is a fun and entertaining group of people to work with! Thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing more of our fun Conference Center experiences with you this summer!

Good news, we have made it through June at Event and Conference Services and everyone is still alive! It has been a busy month with so many events going on all around campus.

One of our busiest weeks started on Sunday, June 9, and started with the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese Priest Retreat. I worked the room check-ins and even saw some familiar faces from my hometown and church.

Monday morning began with Academic Orientation and my position for the week was not with events, but rather with the Orientation Committee. It was a full blown week of work for both Event and Conferences and Orientation. I came in bright and early Monday morning and was getting everything set-up for our first day with Orientation. Everything seemed to be going well until I spotted Shane walking back to our office with a slight problem. Apparently while he was trying to set-up the podium and lift it to the stage, his pants suffered quite a large tear, “catastrophic” was how he explained it. Shane was the only one in the office at this time and could not leave due to his pants issue. Luckily, the only tasks that needed done outside of office work were unlocking doors and placing easels for Orientation, so I was able to get it done in no time. Luckily, Ange was able to come in a bit early so that Shane could go home to get new pants.

Besides that little speed bump on Monday, the rest of the week went pretty smooth from what I heard, there were multiple room flips that needed done each day but the Event Crew was on top of things as usual. I believe that estimated number of chairs that the crew moved that week was about 8,512! To end off the week on Friday, we had the Dupré Science Center Dedication and a speech by Herbert Boyer. The event had close to 200 hundred people who attended and it was great that the donors were able to see the work that they had made possible.

The weekend came upon us fast and held airport runs, A LOT of airport runs. The calculated total number of hours I spent in the vans that weekend was about ten hours; I truly do know the way to the Pittsburgh Airport like the back of my hand now. Just a side note, large passenger vans do not fit into the short-term parking garage at the Pittsburgh Airport and do not try it unless you want to back your car the entire way down the entrance ramp; yes that did happen.

With airport runs down and some more check-in under our belt, the next week seemed to slow down just a bit. Most of the work we did was preparation for the incoming World Cup Soccer Camp who had about 200 kids check in on Sunday, June 23, for overnight camp. We also had a few set-ups in the Fred Rogers Center. Once again, Shane was helping with a set-up and on his way down to the floor, I heard a very large rip. So Shane has gone through 2 pairs of khaki pants so far this summer and I believe he is now left with only 2 pairs. At this rate, he will definitely need to buy some more pants and he should probably stay away from set-ups.For everything PR, I have been working on the summer newsletter and it is ready for release. I put together information from around campus and wrote an article for the front page about going mobile and using mobile apps for events and conferences. I am organizing the many digital photos that we have from different events and set-ups, and storing them digitally on our computers.

Even though we are always busy, we still manage to have fun. So far, we have been able to go out for an event crew lunch while the power was out. It’s always fun driving the big white van through Latrobe with the entire event crew inside. The staff also went out to dinner and Statler’s Fun Center for a round of go-cart riding. Soon, we have a trip planned for Kennywood and we are all really excited!

It has been another busy week at The Conference Center, with so many events going on throughout campus. The madness started last Thursday with our first check-in of the weekend for the Undergraduate Bioinformatics Conference. Luckily, there were not too many people that needed to check-in that day, but our weekend was just warming up. My day started off at 11 a.m. Friday and I was ready to go for my 12 hour shift. Between airport runs, set-ups, check-ins and events, we had our hands full.

The first check-in we prepared for was the Lay Missionaries of Charity (LMC) who were holding their National Retreat on campus Friday, May 31st through Sunday, June 2nd. There were about sixty people from across the nation who traveled in for the weekend. The events crew did airport pickups that day from Pittsburgh and Latrobe to bring in guests for the retreat.

Just as we got settled with the LMC check-ins, there was much more to come. Friday evening was also check-in for the 2013 Men’s Steelers Fantasy Camp. This event hosted over 300 men, who stayed on campus for the weekend and participated in speeches given by former Steelers players, drills and practices on the football fields, team meetings, a skills competition and the awards ceremony to finish out the weekend.

I was assigned to work room check-ins on Friday evening, where I was able to meet some pretty awesome fans; fathers and sons, brothers, friends and even entire families showed up more than ready to start off their weekend. For some, it was their first time, while others were returners. Not only did the fans check in but former players like Willie Parker, Chris Hoke and Frenchy Fuqua also stopped by to get their room keys for the weekend. It was great to see some players come out and share their experiences with the guys and even train them during the practices.

After everyone was checked in, we had one more set-up and a tear down to go before the end of the night. With the help of the summer crew here, we managed to get a set-up done in the Fred Rogers Center to fit all of the fantasy camp men on Saturday afternoon, and tore down a set-up for Prep Reunion in the atrium of the DupréScience Pavilion. We ended our night around 11:30 p.m. Even though it was an exhausting day, I had so much fun working with the 4 other students on the summer crew. We had done so much work and stayed positive throughout it all.

The rest of the weekend went pretty smooth with only a few set-ups on Saturday that needed to be done along with some office work. We prepared the Fred Rogers Center for the Prep Reunion Alumni Awards Dinner that was scheduled for Saturday evening along with a conference set-up for LMC to use on Sunday morning.

On the PR end for this week, I have put together a social media plan for The Conference Center to use for their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest accounts. I will be handling most of the social media for the summer, but hopefully the social media plan is something that can be implemented throughout the future. I have also been working on information and a design for the Conference Connection, a summer newsletter for The Conference Center that features various bits of information from around campus as well as events that have happened and details for future events. The newsletter has a feature article on the cover page as well as recipes and cooking tips in the center spread.

Even though things have been pretty calm this week, I am preparing myself for another hectic week at work. This time, I will not be directly working for The Conference Center but rather, I will be welcoming future Bearcats onto campus for their Academic Orientation from June 10 through the 13, and then it will be back to another busy weekend at The Conference Center.

The days that involve large events with hundreds of people on campus are definitely fast pace with a lot going on but it makes a long day of work go much faster. I am still learning so much in the process and I am excited to continue through the rest of the summer.

Hey everyone! My name is Loretta Bobetich and I will be entering my senior year at Saint Vincent in the fall as a Graphic Design and Communication double major. For the summer, I am interning with The Conference Center at Saint Vincent College and will be focusing on public relations and social media. I will also be helping with office work, set-ups and events on campus. I am excited to share my experiences working at The Conference Center and living on campus!

It has officially been three weeks into my summer job with The Conference Center and I have already been a part of so much. You would assume that a new job would offer a few days of training and some logistics at first, you know, the pretty basic stuff. Instead, my first day on the job was Commencement set-up 101, no big deal or anything. With about 15 of us, we managed to do set-up and clean up for both the Senior Dinner on Friday evening and Commencement on Saturday. Both consisted of table and chair set-up (a lot of chairs), stage set-up, drapery and décor. After the dinner, the entire gym was broken down and reset for commencement the next day.

After lining chairs and numbering for hours, things started to come together. Even after a long night, we were all proud to see the work we had done in such a small amount of time. The next day was commencement and it was all hands on deck.With the wonderful volunteer staff, and all the other departments on campus, we were able to pull off a smooth event. I have always considered myself a hands-on kind of person who is quick to learn, and this event really tested those skills.

My next few weeks of work in the office and at the Fred Rogers Center seemed like nothing compared to my first few days on the staff. I have been able to settle into my summer position, but I know that there is much more to come; from what I hear, June is one of our busiest months. I work with a great staff so I am sure it will all go well!

So far on the PR side of everything, I have worked on The Conference Center’s social media pages, helped redesign their summer camps and conferences campus guide, and designed some advertising.

About this Blog

Get a behind-the-scenes look at how the Saint Vincent College Events and Conference Services Department prepares for, manages and hosts the countless events that take place on campus throughout the year!

About the Author

Hi everyone! My name is Emily Funyak and I will be a senior communication major this fall at Saint Vincent. This summer, I am interning with the Conference Center at Saint Vincent College and I will be focusing on our marketing and social media. I will also be working with the Conference Center staff to help execute all of the camps and events that will be on campus this summer.

Where We Are

Events and Conference Services is located in the Fred M. Rogers Center, at the entrance of the Saint Vincent College campus.